1. Related Applications
There are no applications related hereto heretofore filed in this or any foreign country.
2. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to sealed ampules for containment and dispersement of pre-measured quantities of extrudable material, and particularly to such an ampule having an elongate, selectively severable spout articulately communicating with the principal ampule reservoir.
3. Background and Description of Prior Art
Ampules have long been known and used for the containment and ultimate dispersal of various chemical and medical materials, generally of a fluidic nature. Ampules have become increasingly popular since their origin as they are a simple and inexpensive means for providing pre-measured quantities of materials in an enclosed protected environment for dispersal as desired. These disposable devices have become especially popular in chemical and medical fields where contamination of materials to be dispersed prior to use is of significant concern, and in the storage of various products which may change their forms and attributes when exposed to ordinary environmental conditions. The instant invention provides an ampule which fulfills the previously required functions of such devices and additionally creates new and novel features which enhance the structure, function and reliability of the article.
An operative ampule must necessarily provide a totally enclosed material chamber which may be readily accessed for material dispersement when desired. In their inception, such devices commonly took the form of a somewhat elongated cylinder often with at least one curvilinear end. Material dispersement was accomplished generally either by forming the device from a frangible material such as glass, by providing an openable orifice, or by providing an area that might be pierced by some physical object, such as an elastomeric area that might be pierced by a hollow needle. The frangible type ampule allows a simple and unitary structure which is economic of manufacture and more certainly protective of ampule contents than either of the compound ampule structures. The compound type ampule structures are necessarily of a more complex nature which is more difficult and expensive to manufacture and normally requires the joinder of at least two components which usually are of a differing nature to provide a structure with greater potentiality of accidental opening and of invasion of foreign materials into the encapsulated material. My device provides a new and novel member of the class of simple ampules and is readily distinguishable from compound ampules by reason of the essential structural difference indicated.
As simple type ampule structures have developed and their sophistication increased, particular portions of such structures have been especially configured to aid fracturing of the capsule for dispersement of contained material. These fracturable portions have generally taken the configuration of protuberances and oftentimes have had thinned or scored areas to aid fracture or severance at particular locations. The fracture of such protuberances creates an orifice which is used for dispersement of ampule contents. In general with earlier ampules formed of rigid materials, the dispersement of ampule contents was accomplished by some secondary device such as a syringe, pipette or hypodermic needle because the rigid ampule did not provide means to allow deformable manipulation to aid expulsion of the ampule contents. In the case of fluidic materials, dispersement could sometimes be accomplished by means of gravity and appropriate orientational manipulation, but such dispersement tends to be rather haphazard and can not be well controlled unless the dispersement orifice is quite large or some secondary ventilating structure is provided, which would change the simple nature of the ampule. Spout-like devices for dispersement of ampule contents at particular locations were generally not used with rigid ampules because the ampules provided no means for expulsion of contained contents for finely defined placement.
With the advent of deformable materials and especially resiliently deformable plastic materials, it was found that capsules formed of these materials provided an advantage in allowing expulsion of capsulated material by deformable manipulation. Spout structures then came to be known in ampule structures for dispersement of encapsulated materials in relatively small predetermined areas. The end of such spout structure could constitute the frangible portion of the capsule and could move relative to the associated primary capsule structure by reason of the deformability of the spout itself.
My invention differs from this prior art by providing a resiliently deformable ampule structure having a handle-like reservoir joining an elongate spout by means of an intervening articulating structure which aids motion of the spout relative to the handle element. The elongate spout may be deformed within its own structure to some degree and may provide various curvilinear configurations if desired, though it has sufficient rigidity to maintain configurational integrity, distinguishing it from prior art devices using rubber tubing or similar flexible material for spout-like elements which will not maintain configurational integrity. The articulating linkage interconnecting the reservoir and spout elements is formed as an accordion-type bellows to provide an additional benefit of allowing collapse of the structure to further aid expulsion of the contents of the reservoir chamber during expulsive deformation thereof. Such accordion-type linkages generally have not previously been used in small ampule structures, though they are known in other types of dispersing containers.
The spout of my invention is of an elongate nature, generally as long or longer than the handle-like reservoir, and defines an outwardly truncated conic with a similar conic channel therein. The outer end portion of the spout is sealed to provide a completely enclosed ampule containment chambers so that the spout may be severed at positions spacedly inwardly of its end to open the ampule for removal of its contents. The nature of the ampule material allows severance of the spout by a sharp bladed tool, such as a knife or scissors. The tapering channel allows creation of various sized orifices and the nature of the severance may create variously configured end structures, both to aid application of controllable amounts of material at finely regulated delivery sites. Previously known ampules that have provided some sort of a spout-like structure have generally not provided any means for regulation of the size of orifice ultimately defined in the spout nor for the particular configuration of the end portion of the spout about that orifice.
The use of plastic in the formation of my ampule provides a material that may be transparent or translucent to allow dispersement of contained material in determinable amounts. To aid this function scales may be provided on the reservoir surface, the spout surfaces, or both to aid in determining amount of material dispersed. Prior ampules generally have not allowed dispersement of determinable amounts of material as they generally have not provided regulatable means for the dispersement of those materials.
My ampule is further distinguished from prior devices by allowing application of contained material in secondary small determinable areas without the use of needles or similar dispersing devices while providing all of the functions of prior ampules. Various known larger container devices for multiple dispersement of fungible materials have provided spout-like dispersement, but those devices are distinguishable in that they are not used for sealably contained, single application quantities of products in the one cubic centimeter range and have not been able to place such small quantities of material in such small areas as my ampule. In this regard it is to be particularly noted that my ampule has no needle or needle-like structure to create disposal problems, and if the device is used with dangerous or toxic substances, the spout may be resealed for disposal to prevent dispersement of residual materials still within the ampule.
Because of the expulsion of material from my ampule by reason of its configuration and resilient deformability, the device may be used with other than fluidic materials such as viscous semi-liquids, gels, colloids and even solid particulated material. The ampule may in general contain and disperse any extrudable material that will pass through an orifice defined in the spout. Generally, prior art ampules have not allowed the dispersement of such materials, either directly or by the use of secondary structures, as such materials may not be taken up, conveyed and dispensed from hypodermic needles, syringes, pipettes or the like, and cannot be effectively dispersed from the ampules themselves.
My invention lies not in any one of these features per se, but rather in the synergistic combination of all of the structures of my ampule that necessarily give rise to its functions, as herein specified and claimed.